Gillian Saga VIII - Moments - Hero
by monica.prelooker
Summary: Gillian tells Jack about how she met Hotch.


Sunday noon, the soccer matches are over for the week, and they all head to Rossi's place for lunch. As soon as he opens the grill, the doorbell starts ringing, and soon all the BAU team plus mates and Henry, and the TPU team are chatting scattered over the garden.

Since Fred volunteers to assist Rossi with the barbeque, Hotch grabs his beer and strolls in no hurry to where Gillian is sitting in the grass with Reid, Connor and Connor's girlfriend, Marla, who came from Boston to spend the weekend with him in DC —much to Gillian's colics.

He's hardly halfway when his son storms by, running to Gillian. The boy lands sitting on the grass by her side and demands:

"Tell me how you met my dad, Reg!"

"But we're discussing time travel, Jack," she seriously objects.

Reid and Connor say together: "Hold tight, do as I do…"

And Jack finishes, laughing: "And pretend it's a plan!"

"That a boy!" Connor smiles, patting his back.

Gillian spots incoming Hotch and smiles up at him. "I'm afraid we're totally ruining your son, sorry."

He pulls a chair and sits right behind Gillian, who rests her arm on his leg as Jack insists: "C'mon, Reg! It's been weeks."

"Ok…," she sighs. "Sorry, lads, but it's time for some storytelling."

She turns to Jack and tells him:

"Well, there was this bad guy back in Boston, where I'm from, and he wanted to blow things up with bombs. But I called your dad, and he came with uncle Dave and Reid and all the team, and they found him. And your dad got him, and Reid figured where the bombs were, so nobody got hurt, and that's how I met your dad."

Jack frowns, not willing to accept such a short answer. Then Gillian winks. All of them listen to her with mild smiles, and Hotch distractedly entwines his fingers in her hair as she goes on:

"But before your dad got him, the bad guy had set up bombs in the building he was hiding in. And I didn't know, so I went inside of the building alone. And right then the bomb went off, and the building exploded."

"And you were inside?"

"Yeap, and I was trapped under this huge piece of concrete."

"And what did you do?"

"Nothing! I couldn't do anything by myself! I was trapped there, and my leg was broken."

"Broken?" Jack grimaces in sympathy.

"Yeap. So I was up there in the third floor, with this huge chunk of stone trapping me, and my leg was broken, and you could see the bones, and the blood, and the guts, and the brains."

"Guts and brains in your leg, Reg?"

"Oh, well, but it was a mess. And then your dad came and saved me. He lifted the column, pulled me out, patched my leg and he took me out of the building."

"Really?" now Jack is impressed.

"Really," Gillian nods. She pulls up her jeans and shows Jack the pale scar of the open fracture running along her leg. "See? That's where I broke my leg."

Jack leans to touch it. "Wow… And my dad did all that…"

"Yeap."

Feeling awkward, Hotch tries to bring it a little to realism.

"Well, actually Morgan and Dave were right outside, and the Rescue Team was working to get us-."

"Did you lift the column with a lever?" Gillian cuts him up, scowling up at him.

Hotch nods.

"And did you pull me out and patch my leg?"

"Yes…"

"And then took me down a two-story-high pile of debris?"

"Yes, but…"

Gillian turns to Jack raising her eyebrows —see?

"So dad saved you. And did he save you any other time?"

"Yeap. There was this time when I was a prisoner of a bad guy, with a bunch of other people, and the bad guy wouldn't let us go, and he had this big shotgun."

Hotch arches his eyebrows, not convinced that all these stories are exactly healthy for his son, but Jack leans to Gillian, nodding for her to go on.

"Then uncle Dave talks to him, and convinces him, and he lets half of the people go. And your dad and the rest of the team come through a window and rescue all the rest. But by then, since this is a very dangerous bad guy, the place is all surrounded by SWAT, and there are tanks on the street ready to launch huge rockets, and fighters are flying low over us with like a dozen nukes each, and only Godzilla is missing there to step on us and crush us —because you know Godzilla doesn't exist, else it would've been there too, trust me. And your dad got everybody out in time, but I fell behind, and right then they all attacked at the same time!"

"And what happened?" Jack asks in a thread of voice.

"Your dad made sure everybody was ok and went in when they were already shooting all over, and he pulled me back and took me away from all the shooting and the tanks and the nukes and Godzilla," Gillian matter-of-factly answers.

"Godzilla doesn't exist, Reg…"

"Oh, well, my bad."

"And did he saved you another time?"

"Yeap."

"What happened?"

"Well, this is not so spectacular I'm afraid. There was this bad guys, and he was HUGE, and whenever he got mad, he started beating people with his fists, and he was so strong that there was no stopping them. And Morgan is fighting with him, and the bad guy throws him down to the floor. And I'm right there, not a step away, and this crazy giant sees me and attacks me. But before he can even touch me, your dad comes between him and me, and punches him right in his nose, and pushes him back, and fights him until he and Morgan take him down and send him to prison."

Jack looks up at his father with a little proud smile, and Hotch smiles back. He knows he's his son's hero, but this is the first time Jack hears firsthand about things he's done. And Jack can tell Gillian may be exaggerating things, but he also can tell she's telling the truth, giving him clear, concrete examples of how his dad chases bad guys and saves lives. And it's a warm feeling in his chest, his son's pride at hearing about him.

"And did you save him, Reg?"

"Shut up. Never. I'm such a loser."

Hotch tries to say: "But she-"

But Gillian stands sharply up pointing at the grill, where Fred is starting to hand out food. "Look! Lunch's ready! Let's hurry, lads, before we're left with nothing!"

Jack jumps on his feet and grabs Gillian hand, pulling from her toward the grill. As soon as they're a few steps ahead of the others, he looks up at her, Hotchner-serious, and says: "He's your hero too."

Gillian nods, grinning.

"It doesn't matter that you never saved him," the boy adds. "Because you take care of him. And you make him smile."

Gillian abruptly halts, pulling from Jack to stop too, and crouches down to look him straight into his eyes. Jack arches his eyebrows when she says nothing, then she hugs him tight. Jack hugs her back and says: "Cos that's what we do for the people we love, right?."

She nods again, letting go of him with another grin. "You said it, little Hotchner."

"That's why you take care of us, and make us all smile."

Gillian feels her throat squeezing shut at his words, and watches him sprinting to the grill. She looks back and sees Hotch coming slowly to meet her, so she waits for him. Hotch rounds her waist with his arm, letting Reid and Connor pass by them, as he meets her bright blue eyes.

"You shouldn't have told him all that," he says, leaning to brush her cheek with his lips.

"Because it's true?" she smiles right by his mouth.

Hotch holds her to him smiling back, right about to kiss her when Morgan yells from the grill: "Hey, Hotchners! You coming?"

Hotch grimaces, yet amused, when Gillian purses her lip, showing her teeth to snarl: "I'm so gonna kill him." She gives him a quick kiss, already removing his arm from her waist, and spins on her heels.

A moment later Morgan is laughing out loud and trying to shield himself with his arms, since Savannah wouldn't defend him, while Gillian rains punches to his belly repeating: "Gillian, you idiot! I'm _Gillian_, got it? GILLIAN!"


End file.
